National Park Themed Baby Shower

When my very non-traditional sister chose a National Parks theme (no, not the much more common and easier Woodlands theme) for her baby shower, I was not too surprised. She and her former park ranger husband love camping and hiking. And I love an event challenge - so I set about bringing elements of our amazing National Parks into this very special occasion.  

For décor, I DIY’d the (probably) first ever National Park garland, printing miniature posters from various National Parks as well as graphics of signs you would encounter in the parks - such as boating and hiking trails – and stringing them up around the room with fishing line.

Always a fan of the double vase flower arrangements, I first arranged woodsy flowers in narrow vases and then placed each vase inside a larger vase, and filled it with items I collected on my weekly hikes in the Wissachickon – acorns, pinecones, and just the right size sticks.

I’m also a fan of food that doubles as décor so I arranged the crudité to look like an owl, made the fruit salad into an adorable hedgehog, and created an indoor sterno s’mores station (usually safe except for the one guest who isn’t paying attention when her marshmallow becomes engulfed in flames!). The carrot cake was topped with woodland creatures, bunting tied between two small sticks, and rosemary sprig mini trees. My five year old meticulously assembled edible “acorns” by sticking mini Nilla wafers and peanut butter chips to Hershey kisses with a little bit of peanut butter. The acorns tasted really good and could be used for any fall themed event!

I added just a few more touches - framed National Park signs, sprigs of greenery, and miniature bears - throughout the space to really bring the theme to life. The guest of honor was thrilled with the end result and I had a lot of fun putting together my first – and probably last – National Parks themed baby shower!